SHOCK THERAPY

Published: December 20, 1987

Susan Squire deserves congratulations for her clear article on electroconvulsive therapy (''Shock Therapy's Return to Respectability,'' Nov. 22). ECT is the treatment of choice for certain severe forms of depression. Like other treatments, it has potential side effects, and patients should explore with their physicians the risks and benefits of treatment alternatives. ECT is not given without signed, informed consent.

Ms. Squire referred to research published in the August 1987 issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry, which found ECT more often effective and more cost-efficient than treatment of depression by medication. These were indeed our findings, but I would like to re-emphasize that financial considerations per se should not determine treatment choice. JOHN C. MARKOWITZ, M.D. New York, N.Y.